“What we’re going to be talking about is how to ascertain the difference between when you’re reading a headline and knowing who they’re coming from and what point of view the source has on the topic.”

Young said she hopes this will help to stop people from sharing fake news online.

“It’s a hot topic. I’m sure everybody’s heard of it. And what it is is that it’s often even just headlines that’s meant to grab someone’s attention in one direction of thought or another. That might be misleading and are not really talking about the actually story.”

Eric Mitchell is the Director of Government Relations for Bread for the World. He says, the criminal justice system contributes to hunger in America in many ways.

“Many women who were formerly incarcerated have less access to food, less access to safety net programs like food stamps, housing vouchers, have a loss of household income, added debt, and most importantly it’s harder for them to find and maintain solid jobs to provide for themselves and their families.”

Mitchell said they want candidates not only talk about criminal justice reform but to take action.

The program is called Support Services for Veteran Families. It helps homeless or nearly homeless veterans and their families get back on their feet.

Eva Rohlman is the Outreach services director for the Mid Michigan Community Action Agency which runs the program.

“We can also help veteran families who are nearly homeless. So families who are at risk of eviction.We can help them resolve their eviction or move to a new location, if they can no longer stay in the place that they are. We truly believe that nobody who’s ever served this country should ever be without a safe stable place to call home.”

Rohlman said the program also outlines a housing stability plan,to help them plan out how to keep their housing arrangements.

To find out more information about this program visit the Mid Michigan community Action’s website.

As a part of our ongoing series of reports on homelessness, Ben Thorp went to a Saginaw soup kitchen to talk about the services they offer. He wound up speaking to a CMU professor about poverty, its persistence, and what we can do to eradicate it.

Michigan’s unemployment rate has dropped to 5.6%. That decline in the monthly rate is mostly due to fewer people in the workforce competing for jobs. But the rate is down two points from where it was a year ago. And that is because more people are working. Continue reading →